


Success and Safety

by butyoumight



Series: Shuffling Your Deck of Trick Cards [13]
Category: Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dubious Consent, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-15
Updated: 2011-06-15
Packaged: 2017-10-20 11:13:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/212168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butyoumight/pseuds/butyoumight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>"I will take him from you." Marvelous growled, clenching his fists at his sides and hating how helpless he felt. "He swore his life to me long before you came along."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Success and Safety

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for Episode 15. Alternate Universe as of Episode 16.

Something was wrong. Joe wasn't sure how he knew, but he could feel it in his bones from the moment he opened his eyes. Something was very wrong aboard the _Free Joker_ , and his suspicions were only increased when he woke up properly and saw the door of his cell was open. Even now, Basco did not let Joe roam free about the ship without his knowledge. Basco woke him up and Basco let him out. The idea of Basco simply opening the door and leaving while Joe slept didn't bode well.

Joe got up, slinging his sword around his hips, suddenly full of a burning desire to find out what was wrong. He didn't have a shirt but he figured that wouldn't much matter in the event of something truly terrible happening.

He made his way towards the helm, and his worst suspicions were confirmed when he heard Basco's familiar voice shouting in a not at all familiar tone: fear and pain. As Joe entered the helm proper he knew- the _Free Joker_ was under attack.

Joe drew his sword and ran across the helm, having to jump over the shattered remnants of Basco's gun as he went, throwing himself bodily between Basco and his attacker, bringing his sword around to block the wide strike that was aiming to remove Basco's head from his shoulders.

Joe blindly defended as the attacker's sword came around again, now aiming for Joe. The sound of the weapons clashing triggered a memory and Joe forced himself to focus. He found that he was not merely projecting his fever dreams on a real threat. It was truly Marvelous.

Marvelous didn't realize the half-naked man jumping to Basco's defense was Joe until the hilt of Joe's sword struck his wrist, forcing him to drop his gun. Even then, he couldn't stop his return jab with his cutlass, and he had to content himself with being grateful that no matter what Basco had put him through, Joe was still the superior swordsman.

Joe caught his blade at the hilt of Marvelous' and disarmed his Captain with a deft twist of his wrist. Marvelous' cutlass spun away across the floor and Joe dropped his sword in turn. There was a tense moment where they simply stared at each other. Marvelous opened his arms, though even he wasn't sure if he was inviting or displaying how he was now defenseless.

It didn't matter. With a stumbling trip, Joe fell against him, his fingers clutching at the lapels of Marvelous' coat, and Marvelous closed his arms around him thankfully.

"Joe." The name came out more of a dry sob than anything else, it certainly wasn't the fierce pride he'd intended to greet his lost first mate with. Joe didn't seem to care, and Marvelous was more than a little stunned to find that Joe was crying weakly against his neck.

After a moment that felt like an eternity to them both, Marvelous grabbed Joe's bare shoulders and held him back at arms length, searching his face and swallowing back bile at the lost look in Joe's eyes.

"Stand aside, Joe."

Joe blinked, grabbed Marvelous by the wrists. "Why?"

Marvelous didn't even spare Basco a glance, but he did pull one arm free, brushed his fingers over a stark white bandage wrapped around most of Joe's left forearm. "I'm going to snap his neck." He growled softly.

"No!" Joe was suddenly panicked, releasing his grip on Marvelous and shoving him back a step. "No, you can't."

Marvelous thinks his heart might actually be breaking at the tone of Joe's voice, the protective frenzy. "He deserves nothing better, Joe."

"You can't just kill him. M-marvelous," Joe stuttered over his name as though he was afraid to speak it, and it was like another small stab to Marvelous' chest. Basco, this was all Basco's doing.

Basco moved suddenly, not as defenseless as he had been acting a moment before. He easily grabbed Joe's sword and came up just behind him, wrapping his free arm around Joe's chest, his hand spread possessively over his heart. Joe went oddly limp in Basco's grip and he dragged Joe back a step. Marvelous had to stand away when Basco pointed the sword at him, then brought it around to press the flat of the blade to Joe's thigh.

"You hear that, Marvey-chan? He doesn't want you to hurt me."

Marvelous snarled. "You did this to him."

"I have done nothing but show him kindness, Marvey-chan." Basco smirked, it matched the dark dangerous look in his eyes. "He belongs to me now. That was the deal."

"Deal?" Marvelous frowned, trying to edge closer to them but having to stop again when Basco stroked Joe's thigh with the razor-sharp blade, threatening.

"Why, the deal he made with me. His life for your other comrades' freedom. You think I'd ever give them up without getting something in return? I got him," Basco turned his head, grazed Joe's throat with his teeth. "My blue-chan, my new favorite treasure. And he's been so very good. Did you see, how he jumped to my defense? How well trained he is?" Basco dug his fingers into Joe's chest, clawing and leaving small red marks in their wake. Joe's body trembled, and now Marvelous could see how thin Joe had become. How malnourished he looked.

"I will take him from you." Marvelous growled, clenching his fists at his sides and hating how helpless he felt. "He swore his life to me long before you came along."

"You think you can? You think I'd give him up? Better, you think _he_ would give _me_ up?"

Joe was the only one to jump when a gun fired. The blade sliced through his pants and drew a fine line of blood from his leg before the sword clattered once more to the floor. Basco's grip went weak and he crumbled to the ground behind Joe.

"No!" Joe spun and fell to his knees, gathering Basco into his arms.

A line of blood marred Basco's face, stretching from the corner of his left eye back over his temple to be lost in his hair. Joe could see the whites of his eyes, but he was still breathing. Unconscious, not dead, and Joe exhaled a tiny sob of hateful relief.

Joe turned his head, watched as the rest of the crew filed in with Don in the lead.

"Sorry, Marvelous." Don said, his voice oddly tight and sounding strange to Joe's ears. "We got delayed." Don spun the gun in his had with easily as much grace as Marvelous ever had.

Marvelous reached out to pat Don's arm with a thankful nod. Luka moved past them to retrieve Marvelous' sword and return it to him, and he let his fingers linger over hers before he took it.

Ahim walked through the group and crouched down beside Joe. He looked up at her, and she pushed his hair gently off his face, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his forehead. "Joe-san," her voice was sweet and coaxing, and he didn't resist when her hands moved to his, carefully untangling his fingers from the feathers and knit of Basco's shawl.

Marvelous appeared at her side and he put his arms around Joe again, bodily lifting Joe from the floor and away from Basco. He kept his arms around Joe's waist, protectively and somewhat possessively. He was scared, he realized, of how close he'd come to losing Joe forever. Joe continued to stare blankly at Basco, and it made Marvelous angry and upset.

"Luka." He turned his head to find her, and she moved immediately to his side. "Search the ship. Find the Mobirates, any Ranger Keys and anything else you think is important. Ahim, go with her."

Ahim stood up, daintily wiping beneath her eyes, composing herself. The two women moved off and Marvelous turned his attention to Don.

"Doc, the computer. Navigational charts, captain's logs. Again, anything important. Wipe the rest."

Don nodded. "Of course, Marvelous."

Finally, Marvelous turned his attention to the too-slight form in his arms. He could feel Joe's ribs sticking out and it made him sick. Nothing but kindness, Basco had claimed. Kindness and starvation, and who knew what other mental strife. "Joe."

Joe lifted his head from Marvelous' shoulder. Still he looked lost, like he couldn't quite meet Marvelous' eyes, like he was afraid of what he'd see there. Marvelous had never known Joe to look so frightened. "It's time to come home now, Joe."

Joe's mouth moved, but no audible sound was forthcoming. Marvelous shook his head and brushed Joe's hair back, cupped Joe's cheek in his hand. He could feel a small scar there under his fingers. "Come on."

Marvelous moved back towards the Galleon, and he was more carrying Joe than leading him. His heart wrenched when Joe turned his head to look at Basco one last time.

Marvelous supported, half-carried Joe through the main room of the Galleon and down the stairs into the Captain's quarters. He settled Joe on the bed and drew a heavy down blanket around Joe's shoulders. Joe was trembling, but Marvelous doubted it was from cold.

"It's alright, Joe. We'll be underway soon, and then I'll take care of your leg."

Joe blinked, tearing his blank gaze away from the wall. "My leg?"

Marvelous gulped, closed his eyes and took a calming breath. "It'll be fine. Just sit tight." Marvelous couldn't help but wrap his arms around Joe's shoulders once more, squeezing him perhaps too tight, needing to reassure himself that he was real. Then he turned and headed for the door, pausing to look back when Joe made a truly pathetic little sound.

"I'll be back before you know it." Marvelous left, closing the door gently behind him. And then, even as he hated himself for doing it, he drew his personal key from an inside pocket of his coat and locked Joe inside the room.

He drew his Mobirates out of the same inside pocket where he kept all of his most important things. His Ranger Key next, and he headed upstairs to finish the job.

X

Don stood back, waiting as he copied the contents of the _Free Joker_ 's computer to the Galleon. He watched Luka and Ahim return, Luka crossing to him to hand him one of the Mobirates. He nodded in thanks, assured them he'd be fine and follow shortly after them, and then watched them both leave.

He did take the time to wipe Basco's computer clean, though he knew it was something of a waste of time, knowing what Marvelous already planned to do. It had been an order, however off-handedly Marvelous had delivered it.

Basco began to stir when Don moved past him and Don paused, turning a glare on the monster that had so plagued them, that had done such unspeakable damage to the member of their crew who had always been in a way the strongest of them all.

Basco sat up slowly, one hand finding the wound on his head, prodding gingerly with a scowl on his face. Don moved closer. He wasn't the meek coward chef turned mechanic anymore. In Joe's absence, he'd stood up, taken on Joe's unspoken role of protector. He was still that, for however long it took them to find and piece together the Joe that had been taken from them.

"You..." Basco growled softly, making a motion as if to rise to his feet and confront Don properly. Don got there first, drawing a knife from inside his coat. It was sharp, deadly so, and he plunged it into Basco's stomach without even the slightest shred of regret. Basco's eyes went wide with shock and Don pushed him away.

"You deserve worse." Don spat at him.

Basco sprawled on the floor, both hands clasped over the profuse bleeding from his stomach. He looked truly frightened and Don savored it, imprinted the image on his mind before he turned and walked away, closing the connection between the two ships, leaving Basco alone with his pain.

X

Joe didn't stay perched on Marvelous' bed long. He gathered the blanket tighter around himself and rose shakily to his feet. He didn't think to try the door, he wouldn't even know where to go, what to do. He moved instead to the wall, to the porthole that looked out into space.

The _Free Joker_ floated free and dark beside them. The ships weren't connected anymore, that must mean the rest of the crew was back on the Galleon.

A familiar sound trembled through the ship and Joe's breath caught in his throat. He didn't have to be there to know what Marvelous was saying, to hear Marvelous' voice in his head giving the command.

" _Portside cannons, fire._ "

Joe turned his face away as dark space exploded into brilliant light, a silent cry on his lips.

It hadn't been home. Logically he knew it had been little more than a prison. But still, he knew as he turned back to watch the shrapnel that had been the _Free Joker_ settle into an awkward formation, he knew that he would miss it, however sick that made him.

X

Marvelous returned to the main room to find his crew waiting for him. Don was standing at the console, pouring through something he presumably had taken from Basco's computer. He stopped when Marvelous entered, shutting off the screen and turning around to face the room and his Captain.

Luka sat on the love seat, pouring through an assortment of Ranger Keys, many more than Basco had used to overpower them before. Marvelous scowls, wondering how many of the powerful trinkets might still be out there if Basco had managed to find so many on his own. There was a single Mobirates on the table as well, obviously Joe's, the rest having been returned to their rightful owners.

Finally he turned to Ahim. She stood beside his chair, holding something familiar in her arms. When he met her eyes she shook it out and held it in front of her.

Joe's coat. Basco must have kept it in his own quarters, further separating Joe from his rightful place in the galaxy.

Marvelous crossed the room to take it from her. He held it gingerly, feeling the leather with his fingertips, as if afraid it might dissolve or disappear. It did neither, and he took a step past Ahim to hang it where it belonged on the coat rack.

He turned around again to face them all. He cleared his throat.

"We've got him back. Everything's going to be alright now." Even as he said the words, Marvelous found he truly believed them, and the sudden feeling of optimism almost overwhelmed him. Changed him. He smiled, a real smile, his own self-assured Cheshire grin.

"Doc, set a course for Earth." He clapped his hands. "We've got a treasure to find. Bird!"


End file.
